


VLD Superhero AU

by Cocopops1995



Series: Superhero AU [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Superheroes, and give the paladins additional powers, and make them glow, it's pretty cool, superhero au, the lions are elemental guardians
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-29 03:26:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,202
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19821577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cocopops1995/pseuds/Cocopops1995
Summary: What the name says. A superhero AU I came up with just for this year's Shiro Ship Week. In a world where about a third of the population is born with supernatural abilities, five are chosen to bond with the earth's five elemental guardians.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> This started off with me wanting to write a fic for Shiro Ship week. And then it became a whole entire AU on its own, with world-building and everything. This is just the background for this verse to go with any other fics I might write for it (there may very well be a few)

● Takes place on an Earth where basically a quarter of the population has superpowers.  
● Some more powerful than others.  
● Those with superpowers are born with Quintessence.  
● It’s unknown exactly what Quintessence is, or why some are born with it, but it is what  
causes these people to develop supernatural abilities.  
● Our story is set in Garrison City.

  
● Shiro is a powerful Aerokinetic (air bender) - the only one in the world to have figured out  
how to manipulate air to allow him to fly without the use of a glider of sorts.  
● He’s also a pilot because, you know the man loves to fly so much he has to be up in the sky  
however he can (also he only figured out how to fly by himself after becoming a pilot)  
● One day he gets abducted by Zarkon and Haggar.  
● Zarkon and Haggar are this story’s main villains. Super bad. Super powerful. Zarkon is an  
Electrokinetic (manipulates electricity, especially likes to play with lightning)  
● More on Haggar later.  
● They hold Shiro hostage in their secret lair that’s build deep, deep under Garrison city.  
● doing all sorts of experiments on him, and forcing him to duel against other people with  
powers.  
● He wins every fight and Haggar gives him the nickname ‘Champion.’  
● After about a year, he manages to escape and find his way back up to the city.  
● He’s badly injured, the worst of his injuries being that his arm is missing and the wound is  
infected.  
● He also has the white forelock, nose scar, etc. (just no arm)  
● He manages to find some people and they call 911.

  
● Lisa is one of the EMT’s on the ambulance that gets sent out to pick him up.  
● She has the power to heal others of most injuries, even the very serious ones.  
● Healing very serious injuries drains her though.  
● Very few people know about her ability. Her EMT partner and best friend, Ginger, is one of  
those.  
● In most cases what she’ll do when she comes across a patient with life-threatening injuries is  
heal them just enough to ensure that they’ll survive long enough to get to the hospital and  
make it much easier for the doctors and nurses to fix the patient up.  
● This also means that she can sense where a person is injured and the severity of it  
(especially useful when dealing with internal injuries)  
● Doing it this way means that she doesn’t get so drained that she passes out (all though she  
does always get home absolutely spent and sleeps like the dead) and it’s subtle enough that  
others don’t find out about her ability.  
● She can also encourage faster healing.

  
● Back to that night:  
● She recognizes Shiro instantly.  
● She’s only met him a few times at this point, through one of the firefighters she works with’s  
son.  
● He’s barely conscious at this point, but Lisa manages to coax a few words out of him.  
● They’re not exactly helpful words - he doesn’t seem to remember what happened, or where  
he is.  
● Lisa does what she can to help him - one of which is to drive away the infection and help  
what’s left of his arm to finish healing.  
● The rest of his injuries aren’t life-threatening - some deep bruising and a few broken ribs.  
● She helps with the bruising and heals his ribs most of the way  
● She and Ginger get him on a stretcher and drive him to the hospital and hand him over to the  
ER nurses  
● Then she calls her firefighter friend.

  
● In the mean time, the doctors treat Shiro and diagnose him with dissociative amnesia  
● The Holts and Keith showed up within half an hour Shiro arriving at the hospital  
● Shiro’s parents are back in Japan, but the Holts - a family of scientists - adopted them into  
their family.  
● Shiro and Matt went to MIT together - which is how he ended up being adopted.  
● Shiro met Keith through a big brother program he took part in.  
● The Holts ended up adopting Keith into their family too.

  
● Keith is not an orphan here.  
● But his mom disappeared when he was young and he never really dealt with it.  
● His dad is a firefighter and works long hours.  
● His dad also happens to be the firefighter who works with Lisa.  
● Which means Keith is the kid that Shiro met Lisa through.  
● Keith is also a pyrokinetic - his dad used to think it was ironic.  
● Until Keith started setting things on fire as a way to work out his frustration...  
● Which is why Keith was in that big brother program in the first place.  
● Shiro taught him meditation techniques and helped him learn how to really control his fire.  
● He’s quickly growing into a powerful pyrokinetic in his own right.

  
● So back to the hospital,  
● When the Holts and Keith finally get to see Shiro, they’re horrified at his condition.  
● There’s a lot of crying  
● Shiro’s just glad that he actually recognises all of them.  
● Pidge vehemently swears to build Shiro the most amazing prosthetic.

  
● Pidge is a technopath.  
● She is also a prodigy, able to do much more with technology than she should be able to for  
her age.  
● Everyone knows she’s going to end up being extremely powerful when she grows up.

  
● Lisa comes to check up on Shiro after a few days.  
● He remembers that she was one of those to find her.  
● That surprises her because he was really out of it that night.  
● They start chatting and before either of them know it, she’s spent a good few hours there.  
● It’s the first time they’ve ever really talked and they find themselves enjoying each other’s  
company.

  
● When Keith shows up he’s pretty surprised to see Lisa there, but he’s always liked her so he  
doesn’t mind her being there.  
● Lisa’s visits become pretty frequent while Shiro’s in the hospital.  
● He gets out of the hospital a few months later and they keep in contact.  
● It doesn’t take them long to become best friends.  
● It does, however, take them forever to become more than that.  
● Neither of them push for their relationship to take on that level, but they’re both over the  
moon when it finally does.  
● (Lisa asked Shiro out before he could ask her lol)

  
● In the meantime, Shiro is diagnosed with PTSD.  
● This means that he can no longer be a pilot :(  
● Pidge also builds him that awesome arm :)  
● It connects into his nervous system and works just as well as a normal arm.

  
● He only remembers bits and pieces of his captivity, but not enough to help the authorities  
find Zarkon and Hagar.  
● It frustrates him because he does remember that there were others held captive with him.  
● He wishes he could do something more to help them.  
● Then one day, there’s a knock at his apartment door.  
● When he opens the door, he finds a dark-skinned woman with striking eyes.  
● She seems to look right through him and she says: “You have been chosen to help save the  
world.”


	2. Part 2

  * It’s six months after Shiro and Lisa start dating that the woman with white hair shows up at his apartment door, claiming that he’s been chosen to help save the world.
  * She’s with a man with bright red hair and a moustache.
  * He’s understandably sceptical at first, but everything about her seems sincere and he wearily lets her and her friend in.
  * She introduces herself as Allura, and her friend as Coran.



  * Allura is a powerful empath
  * Coran is a telekinetic.



  * He leads them to the kitchen and as he makes tea she begins to explain.
  * She says she’s the last of the descendants of the royal family of ancient city of Altea.
  * The name of the city sends a jolt through Shiro - one of the few memories he has is of Haggar talking about something called Altea.
  * He’d heard of Altea before he’d been kidnapped too, but he’d thought it was only a myth. Like Atlantis or something.
  * Allura continues to explain that Altea is the city of the elemental guardians of the earth - a sacred city.
  * The guardians take the form of six lions, the royal White Lion, and five others for each of the elements.
  * Black - air; Red - fire; Yellow - earth; Green - nature; Blue - water.
  * The White Lion is the most powerful of all the lions, having dominion over all the elements.
  * Once a generation, each lion chooses a human counterpart to protect the earth.
  * Usually, but not always, someone whose quintessence mirrors their element (very, very rare that it’s not though)
  * Once a lion has connected with it’s human counterpart, it grants the counterpart added abilities - different for each individual counterpart.
  * The White Lion always connects with someone from Altea’s royal line
  * Currently connected with Allura - gives her the ability to boost the Quintessence of others and herself (i.e. she can temporarily supercharge any power) - it’s what allowed her to use her empathic abilities to sense that Shiro’s been chosen as a Paladin and find him.
  * He’s been chosen by the Black Lion, to be specific.
  * Shiro listens to everything she says, but all of it sounds a little too out of this world for him and he’s not sure he believes her.
  * Obviously Allura can tell how he feels, having empathic abilities.
  * She stretches her arm across the table and holds her hand open to him.
  * “Let me show you.”
  * He’s weary but after a moment takes her hand.
  * Surprised a moment later when she begins to _glow_
  * Pink markings light up on her skin, where there had been none before, winding down her arms in intricate patterns. He also spots them glowing beneath her blouse, even creeping up her neck, and two triangle shapes appear underneath her eyes too.
  * It’s beautiful, but also super freaky and Shiro jerks his hand away in shock.
  * Allura apologises and explains that the glowing is a result of her deepening her connection with her lion so that she can use her Quintessence ability. “I should probably have warned you about that first.”
  * She holds out her hand to him again and after a few moments’ hesitation, he finally takes her hand again.
  * “Now, try to clear your mind. I’m going to help you find your connection with the Black Lion.
  * He closes his eyes and does as she says, and after a moment is surprised to find that he _can_ feel some sort of connection in the back of his mind, like a fresh breeze on a summer’s day.
  * It’s faint, but it’s definitely there.
  * And now that he knows what is, he realises that he’s been feeling it for months now, he just hadn’t been able to identify it.
  * When he opens his eyes again, Allura has stopped glowing, and is smiling.
  * She explains that he’ll need to go to Altea to solidify his connection with the Black Lion.
  * He agrees to go with her. Coran claps him hard on the back and he nearly falls over.
  * Coran just laughs.
  * He introduces himself as Allura’s royal advisor and guardian.



  * Shiro packs up for a road trip, lets his friends, family, and Lisa know that he’s going to be away for a few days (Allura assured him that it would only be a few days)
  * Turns out that Allura is super-rich.
  * She has a helicarrier, which is cloaked and hovering just above Shiro’s apartment building. 
  * It's called the Leo Niveus (Latin for White Lion - named for the lion her family always has a connection with)



  * Once they’re up in the ship she does her glowy thing again and announces that the Green Lion’s paladin is the next closest.
  * Shiro’s pretty surprised when they end up at the Holt’s home. Once he gets over that surprise, he less surprised to find out that Pidge is the chosen one of the family.
  * She’s the only one home at that point. She’s very sceptical at first but is willing to listen after Shiro’s assurance that Allura is not some crazy lady.
  * Allura does the same for Pidge that did for Shiro, and like Shiro, that’s all it takes to convince her.
  * After doing her glowy thing again, Allura exclaims that the last three paladins are in the same place.
  * Shiro is once again surprised when they end up floating over Keith’s school.
  * He’s less surprised when Allura leads them to Keith’s dorm.
  * Keith isn’t alone though; Lance and Hunk are there too.



  * Lance is a hydrokinetic ( water bender) – one of the few who can turn the water he uses into ice at will.
  * Hunk is a geokinetic (earth bender) – he’s also one of two people in the world who have learnt to bend metal (comes in super helpful when he’s building things!)



  * Lance and Hunk are best friends, and Keith gets on really well with Hunk too.
  * Keith and Lance are those kinds of friends that argue about everything - a person who doesn’t know them would think they hate each other - but they actually work really well together when they stop arguing for five minutes.
  * Shiro and Pidge have both met Lance and Hunk through Keith.



  * According to Allura Keith is the paladin of the Red Lion, Hunk of Yellow, and Lance of Blue.
  * Keith doesn’t take much convincing after Shiro confirms that Allura’s legit.
  * Lance and Hunk take a bit more convincing but, once again, all it takes is Allura helping them to feel the Lions calling out to them to convince them.
  * She does it for Keith too, just for good measure.
  * Allura also says something about it being meant to be that they all know each other already.



  * With all the paladins gathered, Allura and Coran take them to the ancient city of Altea.
  * It’s way out in the middle of the desert – Allura explains that the Lions keep the city hidden, to protect it from the outside world.
  * It is also inhabited.
  * This one takes the cake. Shiro’s pretty sure he can’t be surprised anymore. (he’s so wrong, poor guy XD)
  * In the middle of the city is a huge castle. It has one huge central tower, surrounded by five more slightly smaller towers. (makes a star shape around the central tower)
  * Allura welcomes them to the Castle of Lions and explains that each tower represents the Lions, with the White Lion in the middle, and the others surrounding it)
  * Aerial view looks kind of like this.
  * (please don’t laugh, I did my best, okay XD)
  * It’s obvious in the aerial view which tower represents which Lion, but the new paladins don’t know this.
  * Allura leads them to the middle of the castle, tells them to focus on their connections and let the Lions lead them.
  * At the very top of each tower is a statue of the corresponding lion.
  * The paladins’ connections with their lions grown stronger the closer they get to the statues.
  * Once they reach the statues, the Lions let tell them via impressions and feelings to extract the bayards that are imbedded in the base of each statue – doing so will solidify their connections.
  * As each paladin removes their bayard, and complete their connection with their Lion, the whole tower lights up.
  * Each paladin gets their own set of glowy tattoo’s (Shiro’s are purple coz black doesn’t _glow_ and he needs to glow too, okay.)
  * With the completed connections come extra powers!
  * Shiro gets teleportation; Pidge gets agrokinesis (plant manipulation); Lance gets Sonic Wave Emission (like Blue’s sonic cannon in VLD); Keith gets superspeed; and Hunk super strength.
  * Their bayard forms are the same as in canon. Shiro’s forms wings – they look exactly like VLD Black’s wings :)
  * Also, once the connections are made complete, the Lions can speak to their paladins with words.
  * The Black Lion assures Shiro that he and the other Lions will help him to save those slaves.
  * Black also has beef with Zarkon, his previous paladin.



  * Once the paladins regroup with Allura, she gets down to explaining things:
  * Her mother was the previous paladin of the White Lion, and her father the paladin of the Red Lion.
  * Zarkon and Haggar killed them both, as well as all the other previous paladins.
  * They wanted all of the Lions’ power for themselves and thought they could get it by killing all the other paladins.
  * Zarkon got it into his head that he could control the Black Lion, and Haggar figured that if she killed Allura’s mom, she would be able to gain control of the White Lion, and through her, the rest of the Lions.
  * Obviously, it doesn’t work that way.
  * But Haggar thought she had a shot because she can manipulate Quintessence – she can drain a person’s Quintessence and use it to temporarily boost her own.
  * The drain is also only temporary, the Quintessence will eventually build up again, but the person is left powerless, weak, and vulnerable while it does. Especially immediately after their Quintessence is drained.
  * This is an incredibly dangerous power, especially in the hands of someone as power hunger and evil as Haggar.
  * It’s how Zarkon and Haggar were able to take out the previous paladins
  * The Lions are much more powerful than even the most powerful of Quintessence infused humans though, so Zarkon and Haggar’s plan ultimately failed.
  * But this did not quell either’s obsession with power.
  * Now they experiment on the most powerful powered people they can find,
  * Haggar is trying to find away to use the Quintessence she’s drained to give herself the person she’s drained it from’s powers permanently.
  * It shouldn’t be possible because that’s just not how Quintessence works but she’s hell-bent on it and many, many people have been hurt in the process.
  * She likes to let Zarkon think he’s in charge of the operation, but she’s really the one pulling all the strings.



  * It’s the new paladins’ mission to stop Haggar and Zarkon.
  * They spend a few months training under the head of the royal guard (A.K.A. the Blade of Marmora): Kolivan.
  * He’s merciless and gets them whipped into shape in no time.
  * They get armour, which looks like the canon armour, except the helmet visors are dark – to protect their identities.
  * The paladins as a group are known as Voltron – named after a fearsome warrior hero in Altean mythology.



  * Black helps Shiro remember where Haggar and Zarkon’s underground lair is and their first mission is to rescue those who were imprisoned with him.
  * It’s a difficult mission, but the team works well together, and Allura’s power to boost Quintessence works perfectly to counteract Haggar’s draining ability.
  * Shiro and Haggar have a badass showdown.
  * Voltron forces Zarkon and Haggar to retreat (beaten for now but by no means defeated – Haggar has her eyes on some fresh ~~blood~~ Quintessence)
  * Once they re-join civilization, the survivors praise Team Voltron as heroes.
  * Team Voltron quickly become the heroes of Garrison City.
  * They protect the city from Zarkon and Haggar and any other threats
  * (Including the Robeasts Haggar begins building and sending after them)



  * Bonus Trivia:
  * They keep their extracurricular activities a secret from their families, in true superhero fashion.
  * Shiro comes up with everyone’s cover stories coz none of the others are good at lying (they’re getting better, though)
  * (Except for Keith.)




End file.
